Texas Rangers Blog

How shoulder surgery turned Mike Adams into Mariano Rivera

DETROIT – Mike Adams arrived in Detroit this afternoon just in time to change out of his clothes and rush into the usual advance meetings about the opponent. He did make a couple of minutes to address the media and offered the usual “happy to be here” and so forth.

What I found most interesting: When I asked Adams about his cut fastball, the pitch he throws 61 percent of the time, according to FanGraphs.com, he said he didn’t throw it until after shoulder surgery in 2009.

And since then?

Well, he’s basically been Mariano Rivera.

He and Rivera are the only pitchers in the majors this year throwing the cutter more than 50 percent of the time. Rivera uses it almost exclusively. According to FanGraphs, he throws it 87.8 percent of the time.

Adams throws his cutter at about 88 mph, but can ramp up the fastball into the low to mid-90s. The cutter, which runs in on left-handed hitters, gives him an extremely effective weapon against lefties. Left-handed hitters are batting just .197 against him this year.

“The more I’ve thrown it, the more comfortable I’ve become with it and the more confident I’ve gotten with it,” Adams said. “I’ve learned situations that are best for it. It’s been the key to my success so far.”

The presence of Adams and RHP Koji Uehara, whose split-finger fastball helps him hold lefties to a .135 average, is one of the reasons the Rangers were able to cut ties with Arthur Rhodes. Uehara and Adams give the Rangers seventh- and eighth-inning options against lefties. LHP Darren Oliver will more often be used as a situational pitcher to face lefties in the sixth or seventh, depending on the usage of other relievers.